Modern Website Design | Things every website in 2014 should have, be and do

Modern Website Design | The internet as we know it is over 20 years old. As with anything that evolves, the world wide web has changed dramatically over the last two decades. Like the internet, website design techniques constantly evolve to boost the user experience. How your website is laid out, which colors, fonts and images you use (or don’t use) can mean the difference between success and failure.

Want to ensure that visitors will exit your website almost immediately after it’s done loading? Be sure to make it difficult for them to find what it is they are looking for. Want to get people to stay on your website longer and click on or buy stuff? Follow these modern website design tips.

Responsive design is a must | Modern Website Design

The reason is simple: demand. Since smartphones and tablets are selling like hotcakes there is huge marketing potential. You’ll see even your smallest business owner talking about it, because they’re seeing responsive in action on other websites. Smartphone and tablet usage has skyrocketed in recent years, and is overtaking desktop traffic for many websites. The need to adapt to a growing mobile-enabled user base can make a company more agile, driving innovation within organisations, forcing designers to rethink the user experience for smaller screens.

Showcase better images | Modern Website Design

Crisp high-definition images make your website look professional, attractive and help to convey your brand message more effectively. 2014 brought higher quality, more creative and unique images because of multiple reasons: pricing is affordable; loading speed is faster than ever; access to high quality images is everywhere.

Website visitors can sniff out generic images in a second – and they’ll be left with a generic impression of your company. Remember, the web is pixel based. So if your image isn’t large enough it’s going to look pixelated. Photo clarity adds a lot of credibility to a website, even if they weren’t taken by you.

Videos in place of text | Modern Website Design

Why read about something when you can watch it? Videos are becoming easier to produce, and easier to share not only on your website, but on social media platforms as well. Videos are an effective way to communicate something technical or new when words just don’t cut it. There is no better tool than a good video for storytelling. Videos stir our emotions and create a closer connection. Watching a video makes users stay much longer on your website allowing them to get to know more about your company, product or service.

Typography takes center stage | Modern Website Design

Goodbye Georgia, goodbye Times New Roman, goodbye Helvetica! Designers are starting to find different fonts to add to their arsenal that add a little personality and uniqueness to their designs. Welcome to 2014 — the year where typography gets serious. While 12-point font is great for school papers, it can be difficult to read on a computer screen and seemingly impossible to see on some mobile devices. 2014 is the year when website redesigns include larger text that’s attention-grabbing, readable and easier on the eyes.

Making the most of one page | Modern Website Design

More and more websites avoid loading new pages, preferring instead to present additional content on the current page. Lightboxes, overlays, and expanding / re-positioned tiles can all reduce the amount of clicks in an average user journey. One-pagers are usually scrolled to the end, so your content has more chance to be read from cover to cover.

Fixed navigation | Modern Website Design

This is when you scroll down and the navigation (or some other content unit) stays on the page. Sometimes the navigation will reduce in height into a narrow bar, or a small icon that can be expanded. This technique makes it easier to navigate between pages within the site instead of scrolling back to the top of the page.

Flat design thrives | Modern Website Design

If you think this was just another fad, then you are mistaken. Flat design is minimalist design on steroids. It’s about keeping it simple, clean and modern. Apple has for a long time been a trendsetter, and what Apple does, the rest of the world seems to follow. iOS7 has been out for a while and already there are a flood of sites coming online every day with new “flat” designs. We don’t anticipate this trend ending any time soon.

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I had been following Media Novak’s work for a while now and was always impressed with their logo work. The logo designs they came up with based on my wishes for what I wanted it to look like were above and beyond what I had imagined. The process itself was smooth and so easy. I gave input and they took it on board and applied it to the next design. I would highly recommend them any day!

Chantal Lachance-Gibson Photography

I cannot begin to say enough about Mark & the team at Media Novak. Their customer service has been TOP NOTCH! They have gone way beyond my expectations and dreams and have put together a website for me that I am so proud of… I actually can’t believe that it’s mine! If you are looking for a new website or new branding then look no further… contact these guys today!

Myrick Cowart – Photographer

Thank you thank you thank you! I really appreciate all of your help and your quick replies and editing, and well, everything. I will DEFINITELY be referring your team! I love my new logo and I love that it is completely my own and completely encompasses my brand. I really appreciate all of the time and effort your team has put into this project. Thank you again and again!

Bethany Petersen – Photographer

I decided to hire Media Novak after seeing a friends logo that I really liked. I sent them my ideas but I actually preferred one of their original concepts over my own ideas! They really understood the look and feel I was trying to achieve and I am delighted with my new logo! I found the process to be really enjoyable and smooth and emails were answered very quickly… a big thumbs up from me!

Karen McGowran – Photographer

Media Novak were helpful and listened to me as the client… never once tried to push their likes onto me… but they do offer good advice. I think what has mattered most to me was once we went live, they were very much still around to iron out little problems that only became noticeable to myself with the daily running of a website and a blog! I would highly recommend them to other businesses!

Jo-Ann Stokes – Photographer

Media Novak designed a beautiful website for me and I’m very satisfied with it. They listened to what I wanted and tailored the site to fit me and I really appreciate that. Their prices are reasonable and the quality is fantastic. I would highly recommend this company.

About Us

MediaNovak is a creative design agency that specializes in web design, online marketing, graphic design and corporate identity solutions. We started our company with some basic ideals—offer our customers exceptional design, while delivering a positive customer experience.

These ideals have helped grow our business and drive customers to our door. A majority of our business comes simply from “word of mouth” referrals—one customer telling another of the experience that we offer here. We consider this the ultimate compliment.